Wisconsin Divorce Legal Questions

The general rule in Wisconsin is that any new debt that is incurred after the date of filing for divorce, is the obligation of the person who incurred the debt; if you incur new debt, your respective spouses will not have any obligation to pay the debt; instead, you are creating new debt that you will be responsible for and if your relationship goes bad with this new person, you could be left holding the bag on the entire obligation. ... Read More

It is ordinarily f difficult to get a maintenance award on a marriage of less than 10 years in Wisconsin, absent extraordinary circumstances. On a temporary basis, you can request an initial FCC court hearing, and to help you get your feet on the ground, may decide to give you temporary support, but it will still be difficult.... Read More

The answer to your question is, "it depends." Under Wisconsin law, all property owned either prior to or during the marriage is presumptively 50/50 marital, excepting gifts and inheritances received from a third party. However, the court can deviate from 50/50 property division based on factors listed under sec. 767.61 Stats., such as (a) the length of the marriage and (b) property brought into the marriage by either party.  In order to answer your questing, one would need to know (a) how long you are married (b) how long your husband owned the house prior to marriage (c) what did he pay for the house when he bought it (d) what was the down payment on the house when he bought it (e) what is the current value of the home  (f) what is the current mortgage loan payoff and (g) what major improvements or repairs have been made on the house while you have been married. You certainly are entitled to any increased value in the home during the period of time you are married. Whether your husband gets credit for his pre-marital interest is dependent on all of the factors listed above. Presumptively, it is 50/50, but the presumption can be overcome. Once the divorce is flied, you can asked for a temporary court hearing, and they will place him under a court order to be responsible for the mortgage payments during the pendency of the divorce, to avoid the home going into foreclosure, if that is what your husband foolishly seems to be arguing about at this point.... Read More

First things first. If you are in a divorce and own significant property, you need an experienced family law attorney. It's almost always worth the expense. Second, equitable property division is not mechanical. The two spouse since they calm down can usually divide their property a lot better than a judge who has been watching two nice people flinging mud at each other can do. The answer to your question assuming the two spouses are not mature enough to compromise and work things out with each other requires more information about the source of the original money; what the size of the other spouse's contribution has been, etc. So it is not easily answered. But you and spouse can provide your own answer if you try. Good Luck.... Read More

You raise many different issues in your fact situation. 1. If the child was born out of wedlock and you subsequently married, the child would be legitimized by the marriage. 2. The court could argue estoppel and prevent either of you from arguing now, even if your husband is not the biological father of the child, that it would not be in her best interest to determine paternity to make her illegitimate. Have you both held yourself out to her as being her parents, or does she know that your husband is not her biological father? 3. I would assume based on your post that if  this all happened around "15 years ago," that your daughter is a teenager. While a child never gets to decide on their own where they want to live, the fact that she is a teenager plays into where she may wind up. The court is probably not going to force her to live with your husband, if she wants to stay and be with you. I wrote a blog about this very topic at our web site. 4. If you can prove that your husband had a gambling and/or drug  problem, and wasted marital assets or squandered your inheritance, depending on the amounts of money involved, you can argue marital waste to the court and the court could order your husband to pay you back some or all of the money you lost.... Read More

You can only be divorced at the time of the pre-trial if you have everything agreed upon in writing. If your pre-marital contributions to your pension is contested, the matter will be set for trial. Certainly on a shorter marriage, the court has authority under the law to do a coverture fraction formula or some other type of pre-marital credit to your pension, and only divide up that portion of the pension accrued while married.... Read More

If you live in a marital property state, you may have contributed to the equity in the house, and therefore have a marital interest in it. The situation actually might be the same even in a non-? marital property state. In any case, the divorce court will allocate the assets if the two of you can not be mature enough to reach an agreement and security. This will be in two forms: a temporary order, and then the final divorce decree. Most people with good sense work hard at reaching agreements, which is almost always easier on the emotions and on the pocket book.... Read More

I assume you mean SOLE custody? Sole custody means one parent makes all the decisions involving a minor child, including religion, health and schooling. If you are referring to placement, "primary placement" means the child lives with one parent over 75% of the time and the other parent is afforded visitation rights; presumptively in Wisconsin, since 1987, parents are afforded joint custody of minor children. This means that neither parent's rights on decision making and superior to the other, and both have equal input on major decisions involving the child, including religion, medical and school choiceS. It doesn't mean you have to agree, but if does mean you have to talk and neither parent can make unilateral decisions involving the children.... Read More

Under Wisconsin  law, all property is presumed 50/50, unless received from a third party as a gift or inheritance. You have $28,000 in equity from your numbers, so your wife would be entitled to one half or $14,000 and you would have to refinance the mortgage to have her name removed. The court can deviate from 50/50 based on factors listed in 767.61, but you have offered no facts in your post as to why this may be applicable  in your case; I didn't understand the question about the source of the down payment being social security money or what the pension buyout has to do with anything.... Read More

Yes, based on what you describe, you need a divorce. Holding yourself out as married to the federal government by filing taxes as married would likely place you into the category of someone who is common law married. Also, because you have children with this man, a divorce would give you the opportunity to make sure you receive a proper amount of child support for your children as well as your fair share of any community property you may have accumulated. I recommend a consultation with a local divorce attorney to talk about your specific circumstances.... Read More

If  you are getting a divorce, the answer to your question depends on how long you are married. In Wisconsin, all property whether pre-marital or marital is presumptively 50/50. The only property that is exempt is property received by gift or inheritance from a third party. The court can deviate from 50/50 property division based on the various factors under sec. 767.61, the two of which that may apply in your case (a) the length of the marriage and (b) property brought into the marriage by either party. If you are married more than 10 years or so to each other, it is questionable whether the trial court  would give her any credit for her pre-marital interest. If you have a short term marriage of 7 years or less (by example), she will have a good argument to make to the court that she receive her pre-marital investment back and that any increased equity that incurred during the marriage, be divided equally. How long are you married?    ... Read More

if you are in the middle of the divorce, you cannot just unilaterally drop the divorce or amend to legal separation; any such changes would need to be mutually agreed upon and approved by the court. If you both decide to reconcile and stay married you will not be able to seek a court order for your husband to support you, if there is no pending case; while you would have a right to receive the jointly held assets and 50% of his solely owned assets, if any, if he lives to 90 years or so and you live apart, you would be doing so on your own; you need to weigh that outcome with completing the divorce, obtaining 50% of the estate, continuing to try to get spousal support, and moving on with your life. You would benefit from sitting down with an experienced family lawyer to weigh all your options, before making any further decisions.... Read More

Under "no fault" divorce law, the estate is divided equally or equitably, depending on the law in your state, regardless of fault or misconduct; in Wisconsin, the estate is divided equally regardless of fault; the only property exempt from presumed equal property division, is property acquired from a third party by gift or inheritance.... Read More

This sounds like a question about Florida law but this corner of the site is about the law of the State of Wisconsin. I cannot advise you about the law of a State where I am not licensed. In Wisconsin a divorce can be granted even if some matters remain to be resolved. Trust you lawyer. At least trust him more than you should trust me.... Read More